Bigger isn’t better to these U.S. men.
Along with their usual responsibilities ahead of their Monday afternoon men’s normal hill event, a “penis-gate” drama has taken over sport — one that the U.S. Ski Team has said is full of “wild” rumors of jumpers receiving genital-enlarging injections of hyaluronic acid to help increase the distance of their jumps.
The World Anti-Doping Agency said there will be an investigation, yet all three U.S. ski jumpers said they’re not partaking in the injections.
“It is difficult to say if it’s something that has been done or if people are doing,” Jason Colby, a 19-year-old who is competing in his first Olympics, told USA Today. “And I guess that, scientifically speaking, it could work. But who knows what other teams are doing behind closed doors.”
29-year-old Kevin Bickner, who is in his third Winter Olympics, told the newspaper that the use of such injections “certainly is possible.”
“But I don’t think that this is a problem in the sport,” the Chicago area native added. “I’ve never heard of anyone doing this. Definitely no one on (Team USA) is doing this. We’re close with several countries on the circuit. As far as I know, none of them are doing it. If it was to be done, it would be… a one- or two-people type of thing. And I guess, theoretically, there is a way for it to happen.”
Ski jumpers are subjected to mandatory body scans to determine their measurements for the suits under the guidelines of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS).
The injections of hyaluronic acid are said to boost crotch dimensions, according to the German publication Bild, which enables jumpers to wear a slightly bigger suit that can generate more lift and improve aerodynamics.
Tate Frantz, 20, added to the outlet that he “can’t speak for any other teams… but who knows what other teams are doing behind closed doors.”
The rumors have brought more attention to the sport — whether unwanted or not for this reason.
“It’s been a funny thing to watch go down,” Bickner said. “It might not be the greatest thing to get attention for, but I’ve noticed a lot more people in America paying attention to ski jumping, which is cool. So we’re excited to represent our country.
“We’re excited to have eyes on us now, and hopefully we can put this weirdness behind us and have people focus more on the sport because it’s a really cool sport and we want to represent it well.”